I have some wonderful friends. These are the friends I could call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with good news or bad news, and they would be there for me. I consider myself very lucky to have these friends.
So, when one of them has spent the better part of a year hand appliquéing a quilt for her ‘soon to be married’ daughter……and asks me, “How should this be quilted?”….I hear myself saying, “I will hand quilt it for you!”
Being a good friend, she tried to talk me out of it , but I insisted. THEN, she told me when she would be arriving in Australia for the wedding and how I didn’t have to finish the quilting BEFORE the wedding….but it would be nice….<G>(very big grin)
My friend arrived 3 weeks before the wedding and the day after she arrived, a mutual good friend answered the call for “HELP”, and we hand basted the quilt layers together in less than an hour and I was ready to begin the hand quilting.
The quilt is a design by Sylvia Pippen. It is called Flowers of the Outback. The blocks were beautifully appliquéd with Aurifil 50wt cotton. The sashiko was completed with traditional Japanese techniques and complemented with Australian Aboriginal Fabrics named Bush Banana , designed by Donna Abbot .
The quilting design was marked using chalk and a metre long ruler to insure continuity of the quilting line through the connecting blocks.
Marking the quilt pattern
I used Aurifil 28wt cotton#2692 (black) for the quilting behind the appliqué and sashiko pattern and a wonderful green (#4173) was used on the patterned fabrics. The quilting on the patterned fabric included circles, scallops, and triangles to loosely follow the design of the print.
Aurifil 28wt for the crosshatching quilting
Aurifil 28wt Cotton in a wonderful shade of green
Quilting almost finished
I finished the quilting with 2 days to spare!
The quilt was a huge surprise for the “Bride to Be” and she was thrilled!
My photo of the finished quilt is a little crooked but it is being held by me, my good friend and the ‘Bride to Be’ the night before the wedding…we were excited and tired…all at the same time.
The finished quilt Flowers of the Outback
Filed under: Applique, Aurifil, Cotton Mako' Ne 28, Cotton Mako' Ne 50, Home page, Quilting | Tagged: Aurifil, Cotton Mako', hand quilting, Quilting |
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Your quilt is gorgeous! It is so gratifying for me to see my designs made up into finished quilts! Congrats.
Aloha, Sylvia Pippen
Dear Sylvia, Thank you for your wonderful comments! My friend Rhonda Lyons hand appliquéd all the blocks and it was my privilege to hand quilt and finish this stunning piece. Thank you for your beautiful designs.
Thanks, Sylvia. I really enjoyed making the piece and my daughter loves it. I have recently started on another one to keep for myself and then my other daughter would really like the North American Wildflowers so I should be able to keep myself busy! I just love doing sashiko and now enjoy the applique too. I very much hope to be able to come to Hawaii someday and join in on one of your retreats.
Hi Rhonda,
I am always happy to hand quilt the next quilt for you!
These look gorgeous. What a great present for a wedding! Funny how such pressure can be applied in situations like that when a friend says, it would be “nice” if the quilt was ready in time! 🙂
I’ve recently gotten back into making quilts and my son suggested I make a quilt telling our family history. I told him, “Okay, if you make the dinners and clean the house for the next 2 months I’ll do it!” You should have seen the look on his face 🙂 Anyway, I got some supplies from Alacraft.com.au recently and was happy with the price and quality. Where do you get your supplies? Anywhere special you would recommend?
Regards
Sally Anne
Thanks for the comments Sally Anne. I get ALL my sewing thread from Always Quilting. They are the Aurifil Thread Distributor for Australia and New Zealand. If you haven’t use Aurifil yet you should give it a try!
I found a long, straight edge metre stick at the local hardware store and I have marked the quilting lines with a white Sew-Line pencil. I hope that helps.
What a magnificent effort. Just gorgeous.The value of a true friend is beyond gold and the value of a quilt for a bride from her Mum is priceless. Thank you for sharing this lovely story with us.
Thank you for the lovely comment, Dorry. You are so right regarding friendships,and these friendships last a lifetime. The quilt will out last us all….that is part of the reason I make quilts. :-).